"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

MANASSAS, Virginia — Just left a Romney-Ryan rally in downtown Manassas. The crowd was huge, numbering in the thousands. Other reporters kept trying to make an estimate of the numbers, and all I could say was, “overflow.”

The crowd filled the pavillion and overflowed off in every direction. People stood in line for blocks in the hot August sun, and there were still people in line at the metal detectors when the rally started. Smitty was there with his video camera and I managed to get a few photos myself.

The next polls you see out of Virginia . . . Well, look, the “gender gap” will evaporate instantly now that Paul Ryan’s on the ticket. Trust me on this — chicks dig him. It was like Sinatra with a crowd of bobby soxers at the Paramount in 1944. Elvis at the Overton Park bandshell in Memphis in 1956. Total swoonsville. As I explained it on Twitter:

This was the first event where they distributed “Romney-Ryan” signs and the lady holding it is Prince William County resident Donna Widawski, who was a Secret Service agent during the Reagan presidency.

UPDATE IV: By now, I’m sure some of you are wondering, “Yeah, Stacy, but what did they actually say?” Details, details.

My notes show that both ruggedly handsome Republican candidates spoke without a teleprompter. Ryan said that Obama’s policies are “just not working,” that Obama wants a “government-centered society and a government-run economy.”

“Hope and change has now become attack and blame,” Ryan said of the president’s message. The tall blue-eyed GOP running mate then spoke of the American dream on the horizon, “the dream you have for yourself and your children,” and introduced the square-jawed presidential candidate, describing Mitt Romney as “the kind of person made for this moment.”

“Today was a good day for me, I gotta tell ya,” Romney said, flashing his magnetic smile and praising his young running mate for providing “intellectual leadership” for the GOP.

There were huge cheers when Romney promised to “get rid of ObamaCare,” and boos when he spoke of Obama’s claim that small business owners “didn’t build that.” Romney got another huge cheer by citing the Declaration of Independence’s statement that people are endowed with rights by their Creator, and when Romney said the rest of the famous preamble — the part about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” — the crowd loudly recited it with him.

“We’re going to stand for America,” Romney said and drew more cheers when he shouted, “I love this country!”